Coin-operated vending-machine.



J. STARR.

COIN OPERATED VENDING MAGEINB.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 24, 1909. RENEWIID MAR- 30, 1010.

Patented may 10, mm.

WITNESSES l/VVENTO M llb'siwfiwamp ATTORNEY, i

JOSEPH STARE, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT.

COIN-OPERATED VENDING-MACHINE.

eeweo.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May to, rare.-

Applicationfiled March 24, 1909,8eria1 No. 485,382. Renewed March 30, 1910. Serial No. 552,414.

To all whom it my concern:

Be it known that I, JosnrrrS relm, a citizen of the United States, residing at New London, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Operated .Vending Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates in general to coinoperated vending machines and particularly to machines for vending tubular drinking cups and the like articlesg-my immediate purpose being to simplify, cheapen and improve the means for delivering the said tubes, one at a time-and also to improve the mechanism immediately. related to the releasing and locking devices.

In order to describe my said invention clearly I have provided the annexed drawings, in which p I Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying my said im rovement and Fig. Q'is a similar View with the housings largely broken away, or removed, to disclose the 0 erative parts of the machine. Fig. 3 is a ront side elevation of the lower half portion of the machine and Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional, view taken between the confronting ends of the two stacks of tubes, that is to say, on the line 44 of Fig. 3. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are outer face views of the coin chute and of the devices which, co-acting with a suitable coin, permit the wheel 14 to revolve a predetermined distance and ,de-'

liver a roll for each coin deposited in the machlne. F 1g. 8 1s a sectional view taken on the line 8 of Fig. 5 and Fi 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9 0 Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a plan view of the machine with the top removed to illustrate the arrangement of the tube chutes. I

By reference to said Fig. 10 and to Fig. 4, it will be understood that two parallel series of chutes are provided; each seriesbeing composed of three chutes that discharge the1r contents, by gravity, upon a notched or fluted delivery wheel which is adapted to be moved a partial revolution upon the insertion of each coin, as I shall explain more fully hereinafter; the tubereceiving flutes of one delivery wheel being ofiset from those of the other wheel so that a tube is discharged first from one series of series I, am a le to pro uce a machine in which a large number of tubes may be stored in reasonably small space.

In the annexed drawings the reference numeral 10 indicates a substantial base upon which is mounted a box-like structure 11 of considerable height within which are located the vertical chutes which I have already referred to as arranged in two parallel series;

as a hook or beak 16 which operates as a pocket into which the tube drops when the notch or pocket moves into register. with the vertical chutes in which the supply of tubes is stored. is When the wheel 14 moves forward the said beak 16 also enters readily between the selected tube and the tubes aboveit in the chute, operating substantially as a wedge. This beak, as it cuts ofl the lowest tube, immediately assumes the load of the superimposed rolls in the chute and thus relieves the selected tube from such load. Without such beak the points onthe notched Wheel are liable to engage the side of theselected roll and crush the same instead of readily separating it from the tubes above it.

Attention is now directed particularly to Fig. 4 in which it will be seen that the wheel 14 is carryin three tubes all of which have been remove from the right hand chute for,

it should be understood, that the tubes in the middle andleft hand chutes will not be disturbed until the right hand chute is emptied for the obvious reason' that the pockets or notches in the delivery wheel are filled before they move into coincidence with the middle and left hand chutes. Thus it will be seen that the right hand chute will be emptied first, then the middle chute and, finally, the left hand chute. A guard plate or shield, 17 prevents the tube from leaving the pocket in wheel 14 until the proper time when said tube falls, by gravity, upon an in cline 18 and rolls out of-the housing through an opening 19. The notched wheels 14of both series are fixedly secured to a shaft 20 and also secured to said shaft, outside the until such time as it is desired to deliver a tube 13. Hinged at 25 is a lever 25 whose mid-portionis pivoted to the bolt 24 and whose free end projects into the path followed by the coin (see Fig. 5).)

The coin-receiving chute is indicated by the numeral 26 and its lower end is so located with respect to the described disk 21 that the coin enters one of the notches 22 as it slides down the chute and rests also against the free end of the described lever 25?, being thus prevented from passing into a curved path provided between the disk 21 and a concentric plate27. v

Loosely mounted upon the outer end portion of shaft 20 is a hub 28 having a weighted pendulous extension 29 and an operating handle 30, and having also a radial arm 31 whose free end terminates in a lateral stud 132that extends into the circular path travfrom engagement with disk 21* (see Fig. 6).

During the passage of the coin. downwardly, along the curved path, the coin lies partial y in the notch 22, causing the disk-21 to move with the coin and thus rotating the wheels 14 sufliciently to deliver a tube. The coin is then left in the position seen, in Fig. 7 and serves as a lock to prevent the accidental disarrangement oi the operative parts, while the arm 31 (by reason of the counter-weight curved plate 27 when it drops b 29), swings back to its normal position (as in Fig. 5). When the next coin :is dropped into the machine, and is forced downward, in the manner just described, the first coin is carried forward until it passes beyond the fia'vity seen into a receptacle 33. Thus it wil Witnesses that the coin serves to lock the operative parts to prevent the surreptitious rotation of the delivery wheels 14 and it also serves 'to unlock the delivery mechanism.

The operation of my described machine is as follows: assuming that the two series of tube-receiving chutes have been filled with tubes. When a coin is dro ped into the chute 26 it passes downward, by gravity, until it enters one of the notches 22 and also enga es the free end of the lever 25. The hand e 30 is then grasped and rocked toward the left hand, as here shown, sufiiciently to bring the stud 32 on arm 31 into engagement with the edge of the coin. Continued movement of the arm and stud. forces the coin downward along the curved path between disk 21 and plate 27, thus releasing the bolt 24 and causing the disk 21, shaft 20 and connected wheels 14 to be rotated suflicintly to deliver a tube from (for example) the right hand series of chutes. The next partial revolution of the wheels 14 will operate to deliver a tube from the left hand series of chutes and this operation may be re eated until all of the tubes in both series 0 chutes have been discharged, one at a time, from the machine.

Having thus described my invention I claim W a In a vending machine, the combination with a multi-chambered vertically-disposed tube 'supporting chute, of a notched delivery wheel disposed beneath said chute, said wheel havingat one side of each of its notches a hook or beak having a wedgeshaped point forming a pocket to receive a tube and adapted to enter between the selected tube and the tubes above it in the chute and to act as a cut-off and a support for the superimposed rolls in the chute,

whereby the selected tube is relieved from such load, and a guard plate following the contour ofsaid wheel to, revent a tube from ated locking mechanism.

JOSEPH STARR.

FRANK H. ALLEN, FRANK C. PALMER.

leaving its pocket and mtermittently-actu- 

